they're eligible for before determining whether they themselves get a subsidy? >> it is part of the application process. i can get you more information on that. >> well, here's the point. look, two weeks ago in the cr we passed a law that president obama signed. quote, prior to making such credits and deductions available, the secretary shall certify that the exchanges verify such eligibility consistent with the requirements of the act. here's the question. are we really verifying at the front end whether a person is actually eligible for these subsidies or not? and here's why this matters. if they're not eligible for the subsidy and then once we reconcile these records, they get taxed the money back off of their refund. and so this is what i mean when i say rude awakenings. people are signing up for insurance. they're getting tax credit subsidies funded by taxpayers. the irs is already telling us they're confused about how to do this. you're not telling us whether or not you're proactively

determining whether, say, an under 26-year-old is actually eligible for the subsidies you're trying to sell them and the problem is once we learn whether or not they were eligible and if they weren't, people in good faith will be signing up for subsidies that they're not eligible for. >> i think you're asking a different question, which is are we doing 100% income verification on everyone. >> and subsidy eligibility verification. >> yes. so part of the question in the application process is are you depending on your parents, on your parents tax plan so that is part of the questioning that goes on and if so we move them in that direction. more importantly, part of what you're asking is the income verification, which is done in 100% of the cases. >> i'm not asking about income verification. >> okay. >> i'm asking if a person signs up, were they offered credible employer insurance, because the mandate has been delayed, you don't have that verification tool so you had to come up with a new verification tool to

determine their yiblt for subsidies. if a person is offered insurance at their job that meets your definition of credible insurance, then they can't get obama care subsidies. if a person is 25 years old and they go on the website and they say their income is x and that is eligible for subsidy, they can get that subsidy. but if they were eligible to be on their parents plan, they're not allowed to get that subsidy. >> that's right. >> the question is are you filtering that? because here's the problem. if you get this wrong, the way the law works is you have to take that money back in their tax refund. tax refunds matter. people plan their lives around their tax refunds. they plan their spring breaks for their kids, their car payments, their bills. what people in this country don't yet know is that if you get this wrong, which you've already acknowledged you're not doing it right, they're going to get their tax refund taken away from them because they will have signed up for a subsidy which they weren't eligible for which they didn't know. >> if you've been on the site, this is part of the clear instructions, including the

under age 26, including the fact that you're basically completing this application under penalty of perjury, it's very clear there's also help instructions on each site to explain each process. what is credible employer coverage, what happens if you're under 26. it is all available on the website. >> so if they get it wrong, they're the one that's going to get taxed. >> time's expired. mr. lewis. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you, madam administrator, for being here -- >> good morning, everybody. i'm thomas roberts as msnbc headquarters here in new york. we've been watching the house ways and means committee this morning with the hearing of marilyn tavenner being in the hot seat. she is the person head of the centers for medicare and medicaid services, also known as the quarterback of obama care. she is the first up to bat today. tomorrow will be health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. as we've been watching all morning long, marilyn tavenner has been trying to answer all of these questions to the best of her ability. when it comes to the affordable care act, one of the biggest ones being is how many people

have actually enrolled. we know that there have been a lot of different hits on the different websites, but they won't have accurate numbers of enrollees in coming up mid-november. at least that's what we learned this morning. we have a lot to talk about this hour but i want to start off with nbc news investigative correspondent lisa myers who joins our conversation and dr. cory herbert from the lsu health sciences center. lisa, let me start with you because you had your exclusive report out explaining why so many millions of americans were getting cancellation notices. explain what your reporting has learned. >> basically we were trying to get our hands around what was going on out there and we looked strictly at the 14 million people getting their insurance from the individual market. they are getting cancellations or being told their policy doesn't meet aca standards and, therefore, has to be changed, which is a violation of the president's promise that anyone who likes their insurance could keep it. so we went back to the 2010

obama care regulations and found that the administration actually had estimated that 40% to 67% of those in the individual market would not be able to meet the test to be grandfathered, which is what it takes to keep your own policy, just because of the normal churn in the markets. so they knew a lot of the people in the individual market would not be able to keep their policies but went out there and left the impression that everyone could keep their policy if they liked it. if they had been saying most people can keep their policy if they like it, then it would be accurate. but that's unfortunately not what he's been saying. >> so, lisa, the bottom line here is here that the standard of care through the aca changed so that now all the policies that the insurance companies have to meet that standard of care. if they weren't grandfathered in properly, that means that they are unable to sell them once again. >> that's correct. you're absolutely right. if you do not meet a rather narrow test to be grandfathered,

then your new policy has to meet the standard of the aca, which says you must get at least ten benefits. and let's be real about it. many of these policies would be considered by health care experts much better than the policies that a lot of these folks in the individual markets have. but a lot of them aren't happy about having it forced upon them. >> all right. so lisa, stand by for me. dr. herbert, let me ask you, as we're watching this morning, marilyn tavenner is, as described there, as the quarterback of the aca, how do you think she's doing so far in answering a lot of the questions? one of the basic ones being how many people have actually enrolled since october the 1st? >> well, i tell you what, i know that seat is hot, it's very hot. we've got to make sure that we frame this thing appropriately. obviously the president could have used a little better language when he explained that you can keep your health care policy as it is, but let's think about this. 90% of americans have never read

their insurance policy, and they don't realize how horrible their insurance coverage is. so let's equate it to like a concept of auto insurance. if you have a rolls royce, then you can't really have honda insurance. so people don't realize that they actually didn't have maternity coverage and they didn't have prescription benefit coverage. so what they're trying to say is that if you don't have this stuff, then you need to make sure that you have it, because if you don't have it, then the bill goes to the american public, which is a very republican way to think about things. so that's why i don't understand why the republicans are giving everybody such a hard time. but to actually get to the direct question that you asked, the numbers should be out there. we should have the numbers. but with any computer regulation, we know that those numbers lag and we have to get the numbers appropriately tabulated. but always remember that these elevated rates can be attributed, because the numbers haven't been as high as they

would have been if the website would have been appropriately tabulating the results. so all these things are all really based up on the numbers that we're going to get because of the website glitches, and that's really the bigger problem here. >> one of the interesting history lessons that we got from jim mcdermott under this hearing was the fact that under medicare part d, when that rollout happened about eight years ago, it took oversight about six months to evaluate some of the glitches experienced in that, drawing the contrast to now where we are in overnight in the aca and what a heavy lift that this is as a country as we try to amend the social contract that we all have with one another over our health care. i want to brick in now democratic congressman from south carolina, james clyburn. sir, you have heard our lisa myers and her report that 50% to 75% of the 14 million consumers out there that got purged from their insurance coverage because their individual policies aren't

going to meet the standards mandated by the new health care law, that's a lot of people. we have the president out there last night giving a new network interview trying to personalize and prioritize what it means to be properly insured with health care. take a listen. >> i know that -- at least i kind of remember when i was in my 20s and early 30s, i thought i was invincible, but it turns out i broke my nose playing basketball. it turns out there were times where i had unexpected illnesses or accidents, and making sure that you've got coverage insures that you're not ending up paying out of pocket thousands of dollars that you may not have. and so this is a good investment for young people. >> sir, the president there trying to do his best effort to first person personalize what it means to have health care as a young person in this country. but today the president and his staff really need to explain why they didn't know or admit knowing more accurately that people would be purged because

their insurance plans would be considered yip eed inaccurate. do you think that the president and the white house misled people? >> i don't think so at all. i do believe that the language could have been different. but let me tell you something, i have three daughters. i paid for my first two children out of pocket because the insurance i thought i had had some fine print that i did not know about. and so i thought my insurance was good enough and it turned out that it wasn't. so i paid out of pocket. these are the kinds of experiences that you have when you don't read the fine print, and most people don't. and so i think that insurance companies could have led why they are upgrading these policies rather than cancelling them but they didn't do that. so sensationalism is too much at play here, but i would hope as the lady who called into a radio program said to me one day, she said, you know, i thought i liked what i had until i tried to use it. and so that's what happens to so

many of us is that we go out thinking we've got good insurance policies, but when you try to use it, it's not good enough. so what the aca did, established a floor below which no insurance company would be allowed to go and above which you could build upon, be it the bronze plan or gold plan or platinum plan, but you build upon a floor. so if you're beneath the floor, then you ought to get rid of that policy and get something that's going to serve you in good stead if you need to use it. >> when we look at what the cms administrator, marilyn tavenner is going through live right now with the hearing today, this is just a precursor of what we expect tomorrow with kathleen sebelius facing some very tough questions. but tavenner does have pie partisan support because she was confirmed with all but seven republican votes back in may and we have congressman eric cantor

who is a long-time friend. i believe we have a statement i want to play. >> that raises some serious questions about the sales job of obama care. and that's why we're all saying that we shouldn't allow the american people to be impacted like this. >> still talking about the rollout of the website there, sir. marilyn tavenner is someone eric cantor considers to be a friend and a colleague. again, has bipartisan support. do you think the grace that's being supported to tavenner from the right is something that's not going to be seen tomorrow, giving the grace to the political crucifixion that people expect of kathleen sebelius? >> well, i suspect they're on different levels. miss sebelius is the secretary and, therefore, considered to be just a personal part of the president's cabinet, and she is a part of that cabinet, so i expect that she'll get a little more venom than is being

restored upon miss tavenner today. but let me say this, they are not against obama care. this is about the rollout, this is about the glitches, this is about a computer system that goes down every now and then. i would have hoped, as i said often before this rollout, that we would be emphasizing that 1-800 number, getting people to the telephones so they can talk to people, getting people into these community health centers out there that we have funded to have personal one-on-one conversations with people. and then let's add up the numbers after about five or six months. this is not unlike we had with medicare part d when we had these kinds of headlines that ran for about 90 days before they finally got it right after six months. and we'll get this right as well. >> all right. well, the pressure is on and it's just -- >> yes, it is. >> -- since october the 1st. we will keep watching. james clyburn, thanks so much.

dr. cory herbert and lisa myers, thanks to all three of you. today marks exactly one year since superstorm known as sandy made landfall along the east coast. >> this is my home. this is where i lived. and it's not gotten any better. >> how far have we come and how far do we still need to go to rebound on the east coast? plus, america's allies outraged over the reach of the nsa. but does the benefit of listening in outweigh the risk of alienating friends overseas? i'll dig into both sides of those topics with new york congressman peter king. he joins me coming up next. that leads to today's big question for you. nsa under fire. should the u.s. be spying on its allies overseas? weigh in with your thoughts on twitter and facebook. [ male announcer ] at humana, understanding what makes you different is what makes us different. we take the time to get to know you and your unique health needs. then we help create a personalized healthcare experience that works for you.

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there have been a deliberate and systemic attempt on the part of the majority in the house and the minority in the senate to make it impossible for all americans to receive quality health care, and some of us will not stand for it. we will stand up and fight for what is right, for what is fair and for what is just. health care is a right and not a privilege. >> that was congressman john lewis just moments ago expressing frustration with his republican colleagues during the questioning of medicare and medicaid chief marilyn tavenner. she is the first obama administration official to answer questions before congress over the flawed rollout of the healthcare.gov website. government spying is also big on the hill today. in about two hours, the house intel committee holds a hearing to demand answers about the nsa's surveillance programs and it comes as outrage is building over the revelations the nsa spied on our country's allies, including german chancellor

angeina merkel. dianne feinstein is calling for a total review. president obama said he wouldn't confirm what he called assumptions made in the press but the nsa is involved in a whole range of issues. >> what we've seen over the last several years is their capacities continue to develop and expand and that's why i'm initiating now a review to make sure that what they're able to do doesn't necessarily mean what they should be doing. >> joining me right now republican congressman peter king of new york. he's a member of the homeland security committee and chairman of the subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence. sir, it's great to have you on. >> thank you. >> just moments ago we had house speaker john boehner out there and he was asked if there needed to be a review of the nsa's programs. i want to play a small portion of how he responded. >> well, i don't think there's any question that there needs to be a review. there ought to be a review and it ought to be thorough. we've got obligations to the american people to keep them safe and we've got obligations

to our allies around the world. but having said that, we've got to find the right balance here. and clearly we're imbalanced as we stand here. >> imbalanced as we stand here. sir, you've defended the nsa's phone surveillance program. you've also been quoted as saying that surveillance of our allies protects them and the u.s. but is it worth the risk of alienating our staunchest supporters overseas, and is this just a diplomatic nightmare in the making? >> obviously, you know, the disclosure does create problems. now for years whatever was going on was not disclosed and that's why what snowden did is so contemptible because of these issues it creates for the u.s., which could end up resulting in the loss of american life. so the nsa is not doing this for fun. it's not doing it for any sense of political blackmail. there's no instance yet of any abuse by the nsa. it's done to get information and intelligence that's essential to fill out the mosaic that we need

to protect the american people and to protect our allies. >> sir, dana milbank from the "washington post" has this op-ed out asking how could the president not know his spies were bugging the german chancellor. is it better that he didn't know about his administration's missteps or that he knew about them and didn't stop them? in your estimation, sir, should the president be kept in the dark about certain security situations, ignorance being bliss when it comes to something like this? >> first of all, i'm not confirming that merkel was being tapped but assume for the purpose of the conversation that she was. no, i don't think the president should be kept in the dark. i don't consider that to be a misstep. that would be a policy decision. i don't think that should be done without the president knowing about it or without his very, very top advisers knowing about it because it has intelligence significance. but as you said, there's also the potential diplomatic downside. so i think the president should have been aware of that. it's hard for me to believe that he was not. if he wasn't, it had to be somebody very close to him.

i can't imagine the nsa taking it on its own to wire tap or to surveil a finer allied leader without either the president or people close to him knowing about it. the people closest to him, i can't imagine them not telling the president because under their rationale this is not illegal. this is something that's legal, it's a policy decision to make and the president should certainly be aware of those decisions. i think he should be the one making them. >> is this a trust, but verify excuse? basically because we have the capacity to do it, does that really mean we should do it? >> i think we should and i'll tell you why. i'll give you an example again why in my mind. just taking germany as an example. you go back when billy -- it could have been very important to the cold war. just going back to chancellor sh roader during the period of the iraq war or beginning of the iraq war an he and the russians

were very much opposed to the american policy, which is one thing. when he leaves the government, he gets a job with a russian-owned energy company. so to me that would have been important information for the u.s. to have as we go forward. even as countries are allies, the fact is when it comes to real life and real world diplomacy, this is what does appear. madeleine albright said that the french listened to her phone conversations. now, is a member of the president's cabinet, she was being wire tapped or listened into by the french and that had to be the french government. so this does go on and, again, it's really unfortunate that it came out. i realize the diplomatic ramifications it causes but on balance i think it's important. >> sir, i want to switch gears and talk to you about hurricane sandy because it hit the northeast a year ago today and you represent new york's second district, a handful of communities on long island's south shore as well. but on the "today" show, new jersey governor chris christie said because the government was so slow to act, that he's not

entirely satisfied with how his recovery is going for new jersey. take a listen. >> it took 92 days for the federal government to act on aid to sandy victims. that compares to ten days for hurricane katrina and 17 days for hurricane gustav. i told people it was going to add things to the back ending. here's what it caused. no federal money started to flow here until the end of may. >> sir, do you support what chris christie is saying here, that this response was too slow and congress bears some of the blame for that pace? >> absolutely. congress bears a large amount of the blame. it was absolutely disgraceful that we had to wait over three months to get the aid every other region in the country got within ten days or two weeks. this was wrong. it compounded the problems we had and we had to go through the entire winter with virtually for federal aid coming in. adds governor christie said, it was nearly may by the time the process was completed. then there was so much devastation, so much damage and, yes, now a large amount of

money. the effort is being made to ensure the money is not wasted. in my district we had a sewage treatment plant that was destroyed. we had road works, we had the whole beach front, all of that was destroyed. just to rebuild it quickly would serve no purpose. so there's engineering studies, inputs in the local mayors an county executives to make sure that not only is the repair work done, but done in a way to mitigate future damage. no, the ultimate responsibility here comes from the congress. when i see people like senator coburn criticizing the lack of progress when he did all he could to kill the money coming to new york and new jersey, these devise have a hell of a nerve and then coming to new york to raise money. >> we've got tom coburn and mitch mcconnell coming into your backyard. they were in new york and kek connecticut the past few days to fund raise. both of them voted against any sandy aid. what is your message to them, you've got a hell of a lot of nerve? >> especially senator coburn.

senator mcconnell had a different role. it's tom coburn who was critical then and he continues to be critical now. he's still talking about pork and allnonsense. stay out of new york, raids your money in oklahoma. don't come to new york and take the money from the people you wanted to screw. >> sir, let mu ask you real quickly about chris christie because he was criticized by some members of your party. they hold him responsible for giving the president a boost in the wake of superstorm sandy. christie said he was doing what he needed to do. now a majority of new jersey wants him to run for president. should they look at chris christie as they look for a candidate to confront the candidate known as hillary clinton. >> iowa stands for firm republican principles but also realize there's an end to partisanship. when it comes to natural disasters, when it comes to foreign policy, as much as

possible you should put partisan politics aside and get the job done. that's what i've always tried to do. i give credit to governor christie for doing it. that's how the country will go forward, not by shutting down the government and not by making everything an overly partisan issue. >> republican congressman of new york, peter king. thanks for coming on today and making time for me. >> thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪avo: sales event is "sback.hen drive" which means it's never been easier to get a new passat, awarded j.d. power's most appealing midsize car, two years in a row. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's

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he's using you. he probably has a citi thankyou card and gets 2x the points at restaurants. so he's just racking up points with me. some people... ugh! no, i've got it. the citi thankyou preferred card. now earn 2x the points on dining out and entertainment, with no annual fee.to apply, go to citi.com/thankyoucards if you are under the age of 26 and you are eligible to stay on your parents' plans, you cannot receive subsidies. >> you're right. >> and there is nothing, nothing on your website that tells an under 26-year-old those facts. so you're encouraging people to sign up for insurance in a subsidy that they may not be eligible for and they may not know this. >> congressman ryan, i'll be happy to check on that and get you the information. >> that was the question between

paul ryan and marilyn tavenner. the two went back and forth about information available to young adults on the healthcare.gov website. i want to bring in today's agenda panel. lee fang, steve bennen and dafna linzer, the managing editor of msnbc.com. gang, it's good to have you here. i want to start out with house speaker john boehner. he weighed in on this just a short time ago and said there was no way to fix this disaster. i want to play a portion. take a look. >> this is government-run health care. because virtually every policy that is sold, has to be approved by the government. that's why you've got 1.5 million americans who are already gotten these notices that they're going to lose their health coverage because it doesn't meet the minimum standard. >> all right. so insurance regulation is basically what he's talking about here. i think as a country we can basically say that insurance regulation has sucked as we get to this point.

why are republicans, steve, holding hearings when they don't want this website to work? and should the administration capitalize on that? because we had congressman mcdermott there in the hearing earlier talking about medicare part d eight years ago, they waited six months to have any oversight hearing to talk about some of the pitfalls that happened with that rollout. >> i think you're absolutely right. i think that the administration obviously has a lot of questions to answer because the rollout has been so difficult, but i think it's also clear that republicans have some questions to answer too. they're complaining right now about a faulty website, but if it were up to them, there would be no website. they're complaining about people struggling to get benefits. if it were up to them, they would repeal the law and there would be no benefits. i think the administration has an opportunity to turn the tables and ask some of these same questions that are coming to them. >> so obama care has been somewhat of a dirty word, although the president has embraced it, dafna. you were saying democrats were hoping by 2014, the midterms, that they'd have something really successful to run on and that being obama care itself. so how can democrats show their

constituents that obama care really isn't something to run away from? >> well, i think they're taking an honest approach to oversight and interested in getting answers and they want to see this website succeed and they want to see health care succeed and they want to see millions and millions of americans insured, which would be a very, very good thing. i think people like paul ryan need to be concerned too about how they're coming out looking after this. i think the idea of paul ryan sitting there concerned that somebody might think there's a subsidy out there that isn't for them, this is the same person that was interested in keeping the government shut down in an effort to repeal obama care completely. it's interesting that this is now his number one concern. >> so i'm just getting this hot note saying that senator lamar alexander, the senior republican on the senate health committee is asking that it's time for the president to ask secretary of health and human services to resign in reference to kathleen sebelius. again, today's hearing is a precursor to kathleen sebelius

taking questions tomorrow. lee, also coming out today to start out the new workweek, the rnc has a series of new ads out today making fun of the obama care rollout. so they smell blood in the water here when it comes to obama care but it doesn't seem as if the rnc republicans have ever really taken the foot off the gas about obama care. so isn't this just more to be expected? >> well, sure. the glitches show the administration has clearly made mistakes with the rollout of this health care portal but they don't have a loyal opposition to work with. in a two-party adversarial system, the opposition party has a role to play in providing oversight, but congressional republicans are more interested in scoring cheap political points and attempting to sabotage the law rather than providing accountability. you know, we've had three years of oversight hearings on obama care, but they have been focused on irs conspiracy theories, on birth control. they have done almost nothing to ask questions on how to improve

the rollout of this health care portal, and if they had asked questions about the portal and improving it in the last three years rather than starting today, maybe we'd be in a better place. >> i think congressman ryan's question that we led our segment with facilitates the fact that we're looking for easy political points in talking about how people at 26 years of age, whether or not they can be on their parents' policy or need to strike out on their own instead of his office sending something over saying this is an error, can you please put something on your website like this. they use moments like this to really strike at the heart of what obama care is trying to do, and that is getting young people insured for affordable, accessible health care. speaking of the rnc, it has named -- and young people that is, it's named 23-year-old elliott echols as the first national youth director. steve, it's been almost a year since the rnc autopsy report. this seems like it's a smart strategy to add a millennial that's going to be a point

person, a front person that can draw in more ilk like him, more millennials. >> in theory this makes perfect sense. republicans have struggled greatly with younger voters, therefore you tap someone to go do outreach. it reminds me of north carolina republicans and how they want to do outreach to the minority community but those people don't have anything to say that the minority community that would appeal to them and encourage them to vote for republicans. i think it's the same thing with the rnc. younger voters are turned off by the social conservatism and culture war fights that republicans so frequent low wage. so i think that it's nice to have a staffer, but i don't know what this staffer is going to say. >> we shall see. we will watch to see what the youth outreach program means. i'm sorry for our abbreviated time today. dafna linzer, steve bennen and lee fang. thanks for joining us. you can always find more from our panel and join our group on our website,

msnbc.com/thomas-roberts. ♪ ♪ if i was a flower growing wild and free ♪ ♪ all i'd want is you to be my sweet honeybee ♪ ♪ and if was a tree growing tall and green ♪ ♪ all i'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves ♪ grown in america. picked & packed at the peak of ripeness. the same essential nutrients as fresh. del monte. bursting with life™. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter.

so abortion restrictions that were supposed to go into effect in texas today are on hold and that means that several abortion clinics that would have closed today are instead staying open. it comes after a judge yesterday struck down a key provision of a highly restrictive law. after a three-day law, the district judge ruled that the acts admitting privileges provision is without basis and places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion. the texas attorney general immediately filed an appeal. joining me now is terry o'neill. this provision would have led to the closure of a third of the state's 36 abortion clinics. after this ruling yesterday, we see governor rick perry issuing say statement saying he stands by his goal to protect the lives of women and we will continue to fight implementing the laws

passed by the dewey e -- duly elected value officials of our state. terry, should we mention -- also mention that this provision banning abortion at 20 weeks was not part of this lawsuit. so explain as we dissect here how much of a victory is this in the ruling? >> it's a very, very small victory and it is a first step in trying to gain back women's access to health care. texas is a classic example, but this is going on all over the country. what texas did was to pass a whole sort of array of attacks on women's access to reproductive health care services. i think it's really important to understand, they keep talking about how they want to stop abortion. but what they do is shut down clinics that provide birth control and breast exams and std screenings and hiv screenings and cervical cancer screenings. so the whole array of

reproductive health care services is being shut down by states like texas where the legislators are not following the will of the women who live in texas. by the way, these provisions are only aimed at women's health. there's no aspect of men's reproductive health that is attacked by these politicians. so it's a good -- it's a good win, but it's only a first start. >> let's talk, though, terry the case because this is going to be key in the gubernatorial race there in texas which will likely pit the attorney general, greg abbott, against wendy davis, the democrat we know became famous for filibustering the abortion bill and abbott is staunchly anti-abortion, even in cases of incest and rape. how do the think the battle will play out? >> i hope that wendy davis wins. i think she has a strong chance of winning and a major reason why she has a strong chance of winning is that women are waking up to this war on them that the republican party is waging.

and it gives me no pleasure to identify the people leading this war as republicans. it's not good for the country, but facts are facts. the republican party in texas is not only waging war on women's access to reproductive health care, they're even waging war on women's access to the ballot box. they are now enforcing rules that are aimed to stop women from voting. it's absolutely outrageous. women are getting that. and i predict that in the general election, you're going to see a huge wave of women standing up, going to the ballot box, insisting on voting and saying we will not accept this. >> terry, i want to show that to everybody because it was wendy davis who experienced a problem, that she encountered going to vote. take a look. >> like many women who are voting in texas today, i was required to sign an affidavit because the name on my voter ridge station card is slightly different than the name on my driver's license.

my driver's license includes my maiden name. my voter registration card does not. >> so this came a week after a district judge ran into the same problem, terry. so are women getting the wake-up call that they need about what's taking place for republicans there trying not just to restrict access to affordable health care, health care that they want, but their vote? >> absolutely. i think that people are becoming completely outraged. by the way, the men are with us in insisting that women should have a right to vote. and for the state of texas to say, you know, greg abbott has a huge jernt gap -- gender gap. we know women will not support him so we're going to stop women from voting? men and women in texas are absolutely not going to accept this. now, it may take some time for us to reclaim the country because the redistricting that was started in 2010 has really made it hard for us. but i predict that by 2020 all of these guys are either going to be really behaving as if they

believe in democracy or they're going to be gone and they will have been replaced by elected officials who understand that democracy is for all of us. >> terry o'kneneeill with the national organization for women. nice to have you on today. today's producer's pick comes from meeghan o'connor. sailors are turning to a new weapon to keep them safe from somali pirates. britney spears. can you imagine if they shot the britney version? you can learn more by heading over for my facebook page. [ susan ] ...as though he had never left.

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remember these are our kids in our communities, don't feel safe? the person that shot and killed my son is walking the streets today, and this law does not work. >> sybrina fulton there, mom of slain teen trayvon martin, testifying this morning before the senate for its first ever stand your ground hearing. while there's no congressional action expected to follow, senator dick durbin said it's time for such laws to be carefully reconsidered. in a little over a week, florida lawmakers will begin considering a bill to repeal that state's stand your ground law. here's a look at some of the other stories topping the news now for you. police are offering a $10,000 reward to track down a man who tried to kidnap an 8-year-old girl from her bedroom in aurora, colorado. police say the girl screamed for help. her father heard that scream and ran outside, finding her in an alley. in oklahoma, police have caught two inmates who broke out of jail by climbing through a

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storm warning out of nowhere, an enormous threat for millions along the east coast. a largest tropical cyclone on record. the freak october storm. ten states under a state of emergency. 60 million americans directly affected. >> the storm devastated the coastline in new jersey where it came ashore last night. >> the damage just overwhelming. houses shifted and moved. >> we're a tough group of people. we will rebuild. we will get better after all this. >> so that is how it happened one year ago today when superstorm sandy slammed the east coast forever changing millions of lives and landscape across more than 20 states. sandy destroyed miles of shorelines and gutted hundreds of thousands of businesses, homes, structures costing an

estimated $65 billion in damages. now, of the nearly $50 billion pledged in federal aid money only a small fraction tapped into by cities and states. in the u.s. 160 people died as a result of that storm. in new jersey, things are looking a little better. katy, bring us up to speed. >> reporter: a little better. this is one of the hardest-hit areas during the storm. we were standing right here about a year ago after it hit. there was a men's clothing store but it's no longer there. it was condemned and torn down like so many businesses. not even rebuilt. the reason it got hit so hard, the ocean is there, the river just three blocks that way. the storm came in and the water surge came in and crashed into each other sending these businesses into total disrepair. many of them, most of them, all of them, really, looked like they had gone through a spin cycle. what you're seeing are businesses board up unfortunately, right next to signs of progress. this is a hardware store in

town. it's been open for over 100 years. the owner says he was able to get back up and running even better than before with help from friends. he hasn't had federal grant money unfortunately. he took out more loans and was able to work for it that way. 70% of this town is back in their homes but they are still missing about 400 families. who knows if they will ever be able to get back to normal. they are hoping to get back to someplace potentially better if they can. >> katy, thanks so much. appreciate it. we appreciate you. that's going to wrap things up for me, see you tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. don't go anywhere. "now" with alex wagner comes your way next. he's on geico.com setting up an appointment with an adjuster. ted is now on hold with his insurance company. maxwell is not and just confirmed a 5:30 time for tuesday. ted, is still waiting. yes!

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this morning marilyn tavenner head of the division responsible for healthcare.gov rollout became the first obama administration official to testify before congress. until today tavenner had largely avoided scrutiny from republicans who have instead preferred to train their fire on her boss kathleen sebelius. >> i understand you're not publicly releasing those numbers but i'm asking, do you have any idea of on a weekly basis how many people enrolled in how do you not know how many people have enrolled? >> we'll have those numbers available mid november. >> while the sniping over the website persists in committee, republican leadership is out with a new message. we're over the website. >> the problem with obama care isn't just the website, it's the whole law. >> the bottom l